FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of male hygienic devices, and more particularly to a convenient, disposable male urinary aid which allows a man to urinate directly into a toilet from a standing position by channeling the urine directly into water contained in the toilet.
During the course of a normal day, most people will leave the comfort of their homes for a variety of reasons ranging from work, to shopping, to social events, and so forth. Such travel away from the home can range from a matter of hours to extended out-of-town trips which can last from days to weeks. With few exceptions, people will invariably find it necessary on a daily basis (or several times daily) to use toilet facilities which are outside their homes.
While toilet facilities exist in nearly every conceivable location in which people are likely to travel, the cleanliness of such facilities varies considerably. While some toilet facilities are maintained in spotless condition, others may be poorly or infrequently maintained, and may be filthy at best. Even the best of public facilities will quickly become unsanitary when used by individuals lacking proper toilet manners. Unfortunately, at times there simply is no choice but to use such unsanitary toilet facilities despite their unsanitary condition.
Women have been concerned about this problem for a long time, particularly since their anatomy makes it rather difficult to urinate from a standing position. The art has recognized this problem and has devised various solutions, including those taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,690,658, to Willis; U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,216, to Li; U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,890, to Tafur; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,998, to Irazabal. The Li device and the Irazabal device are both rigid and are generally unsuitable for use outside of the home. However, the Willis device and the Tafur device are compact and disposable, and accordingly represent a solution accommodating the female anatomy to represent potential solutions to this problem for women.
Since men are able to urinate from a standing position, the problem is less severe for them than it is for women, particularly when using toilet facilities having urinals. When only a toilet is available, however, the same problem of unsanitary conditions also faces men, although to a lesser degree. While men can urinate into a toilet from a standing position, they are faced with the option of either lifting the toilet seat first, or engaging in socially unacceptable behavior and possibly urinating at least in part on the toilet seat. The toilet seat may be unsanitary and may carry germs, and thus lifting the seat may be unappealing, particularly if the last user did not lift the seat before urinating.
Another problem is that some men are uncomfortable with the noise generated by urinating into a toilet from a standing position, particularly when they are in a public toilet with others, rather than in a private toilet. In some cases, this difficulty can cause an inability to urinate until others have left the toilet. In addition, some men have difficulty aiming accurately--and are thus left with the choice of either cleaning up the toilet after urinating, or of leaving the toilet in a soiled condition.
The art has presented three potential solutions for men, all of which have accompanying problems of their own. These solutions are a modified toilet device having a urinal attachment, a wearable urinary appliance for storing urine which may be worn on the body, and a portable urinal. Examples of these three types of devices illustrate the fact that they do not represent a solution to the problems being discussed herein.
The first type of device is used to convert a conventional toilet into a urinal, and is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,408, to Michal, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,480, also to Michal, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,419, to Wilson, Sr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,940, to Jones. These devices are all more or less permanently attached to a toilet, and thus are certainly not portable. In addition, even if they were attached to a public toilet, most men would not use them due to the fact that their designs make them inherently unlikely to remain sanitary in a public toilet facility.
The second type of device is the wearable urinary appliance, and is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 1,490,793, to Ajamian, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,079, to Conway et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,038, to Swinn; U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,296, to Moss et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,538, to Carrigan; U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,651, to Moss; U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,291, to Terauchi, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,816, to Manfredi. These devices all require the user to urinate into a container strapped to the body or a limb of the body and worn, and are more appropriate for incontinent men than for men who are not incontinent but rather merely faced with concerns about the sanitation of public toilet facilities.
The third type of device is a portable urinal, and is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,699,781, to Koch; U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,186, to Weber et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,410, to Benzel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,865, to Schwartz; U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,582, to Naslund; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,705, to Belisle. These devices are simply not convenient, since they are not small enough to be carried (comfortably) by a man in his pocket, and since they present a disposal problem which is a greater problem than all of the aforementioned problems encountered when using public toilets.
It is accordingly the primary objective of the present invention that it present an improved urinary aid for facilitating urination by men from a standing position into a toilet. It is a related objective that the urinary aid of the present invention must act as a conduit for urine leading directly from the man's penis into the water of the toilet bowl to preclude a misdirected stream of urine, thereby ensuring both quiet urination and that the toilet seat will remain clean even when in its lowered position. It is an additional objective that the urinary aid of the present invention fit directly onto the penis, thereby compensating for those men who have difficulty in aiming accurately and directing urine into the water in the toilet bowl in an accurate manner.
It is a further objective of the urinary aid of the present invention that it be convenient to use, and that it may be easily and quickly deployable without requiring undue effort. As such, it is an objective of the urinary aid of the present invention that it be temporarily waterproof while in use, but that it be disposable (and biodegradeable) by dropping it into the toilet and flushing it following its use. It is yet an additional objective of the urinary aid of the present invention that it be compact in size, and that it be foldable to a small, flat configuration which may be carried in a pocket.
An additional objective of the present invention is the provision of a portable dispenser for use in dispensing a plurality of individual ones of the urinary aid. As such, the dispenser for the urinary aid of the present invention must be of construction which is relatively durable, and it must remain so for an extended period of time when carried in the pocket of the user to prevent degradation of the urinary aids carried inside the dispenser.
In order to enhance the market appeal of the urinary aid of the present invention, it should be of inexpensive manufacture to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is also an objective that all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives of the urinary aid of the present invention be achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.